A FORMER Northern Ireland minister who quit in protest at Theresa May’s Irish backstop plans for Brexit, has backed Boris Johnson as the new Prime Minister.

Shailesh Vara, Tory MP for North-West Cambridgeshire, was speaking after Mr Johnson’s first House of Commons speech as Prime Minister yesterday, in which he confidently predicted a new “golden age” after the UK quits the bloc - and reaffirmed his determination to make it happen by October 31. He said: “I was happy with what I heard. “He recognised our potential as a nation to be even greater.

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Shailesh Vara resigned as a junior Northern Ireland minister last year (Image: GETTY)

Importantly, in Sajid Javid, Mr Johnson now had a Chancellor who was prepared to make all necessary funds available to cushion the impact of a no deal Brexit, unlike his predecessor Philip Hammond, Mr Vara added.

He said: “In fact, Boris made it clear he had instructed his Chancellor to do this.

“By contrast Philip Hammond didn’t go along with that at all and decided unilaterally to work to block a no deal outcome.”

Mr Vara resigned as a junior Northern Ireland minister on November 15, arguing Mrs May’s draft withdrawal agreement, unveiled that day, failed to honour the outcome of the referendum.

Mr Vara said Philip Hammond had acted "unilaterally" (Image: GETTY)

With respect to the backstop, he said: “I don’t think it’s in the interests of either party.

“We’ve made it clear that there will be no infrastructure on the border, the Irish have said that and so have the EU.

“When people go around saying it’s wrong - if the three parties involved don’t want it, it won’t happen.”

Mr Vara said it would have been “inconceivable” for free trade deal to be agreed within the two-year time frame set out in Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement, meaning the backstop would have kicked in and the UK would have been effectively locked into the EU’s custom union.